San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas
Cameron Carpenter, organ
Edwin Outwater, Supporting Conductor
Repertoire
Henry Brant: Ice Field: Spatial Narratives for Large and Small Orchestral Groups
Released on the orchestra’s Grammy Award-winning in-house label, this recording features MTT and the orchestra in collaboration with organist Cameron Carpenter, in a piece composed specifically for Davies Hall. The SFS’s collaboration with Dolby has made it possible to capture the binaural qualities of the performed piece on audio.
Although Ice Field gives the impression of a mobile, floating, world collage with a certain amount of play in the way the piece is constructed, the timing of when certain sounds come in and how they overlap are all within very cleverly imagined parameters. The degree to which Brant had things figured out was extraordinary. In this piece, we learned by doing. When all the players are in the space and working to put the piece together, you feel the incredible plasticity of the music—something that was impossible for us to know until we experienced it in the space.Michael Tilson Thomas